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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27571492">you could break my heart in two, but when it heals it beats for you</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/anothermikaelson/pseuds/anothermikaelson'>anothermikaelson</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>of wristrockets and skateboards [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stranger Things (TV 2016)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, god eleven and max have the best friendship omg, mike and lucas are just there for fluff, nancy is a good big sis, oh yeah there's a lot of fluff but mostly lumax fluff, so i'm writing my fifth lumax fic in 3 days</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 20:47:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,849</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27571492</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/anothermikaelson/pseuds/anothermikaelson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>max kind of screws things up. el gives her advice, and nancy helps out too. post season 3.</p><p>--<br/>aka nancy being an amazing big sis<br/>aka lumax's first "i love you's"<br/>rated teen for language</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eleven | Jane Hopper &amp; Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>of wristrockets and skateboards [7]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2011171</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>you could break my heart in two, but when it heals it beats for you</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>title from selena gomez's "back to you"</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>  Max storms into her room, ignoring her mom calling her. She slams the door, eyes glassing over with tears, and screams into her pillow, trying not to cry. </p><p>  Max doesn't cry. She hasn't since Billy died. And the day her friends saved her from Neil. Before that, she'd cried in kindergarten on the first day of school. That was it. </p><p>  So why did she feel like sobbing? It wasn't her fault she dumped Lucas for the eighth time in seven months. So why'd it feel different from the first seven times? </p><p>  <em>Great, Max. Two days into summer and you're about to cry over a boy.</em></p><p>  After ten minutes of just sulking, Max picks up her phone, dialing a number she's suddenly memorized by heart. "Hello?" The familiar voice comes through. </p><p>  "El?" </p><p>  "Hi, Max!" Max suddenly feels bad for wanting to spill her problems to a ray of sunshine. </p><p>  "Hi. Can I talk to you?" </p><p>  El sounds extremely excited. "Of course!" There's a sound of a door slamming. "Go ahead, what happened?" </p><p>  "I, uh, dumped Lucas again." </p><p>  "Again?" </p><p>  Max nods. "Yeah. But this time I think it's different." </p><p>  "What do you mean?" </p><p>  "Like, this time I want to cry." Max feels the tears coming. "I don't know why. It's never been like this before. I think it's for real this time, and I don't want it to." Her voice gets smaller as she continues talking. </p><p>  El patiently waits for Max to finish talking. "What happened? What did he do?" </p><p>  "Nothing. I think this time it was my fault, El. I don't know what I'm supposed to do!" Max says. </p><p>  "So why did you break up with him?" </p><p>  "Uh, he took me out on a date. We went to the top of the hill. Then we just had a picnic and watched the sun set. And then I said that the sunset was really pretty, and he said that it wasn't as pretty as me." </p><p>  El squeals, much to Max's annoyance. "Sorry, keep going." </p><p>  "Then I told him to cut the crap, and then he looked at me all serious. Then he said that he loved me." Her voice breaks. "I don't know what happened, I just said that this wasn't going to work out, and then I ran off." Max holds down the lump in her throat. "And now he's not even calling me." </p><p>  There's silence on the other line. "Max...why did you say it wasn't going to work out?" </p><p>  "I don't know, I just think that I wasn't ready for it. What he said just broke me, and I ran off." </p><p>  "You love him though, right?" Max doesn't say anything. "Max...?" </p><p>  Max sighs. "I don't know. Am I supposed to? I don't even know what love feels like!" </p><p>  "I understand. It's really hard to explain, but for me it feels like Mike is the only person in the world for me. Like no one will ever compare to him. It's wanting to devote the rest of your life to someone, and to feel all warm whenever they're around, and to feel like you're always drowning and they're there to rescue you and then when you see them you feel like you can breathe again-" </p><p>  "Holy shit, El, when'd you get so philosophical?" </p><p>  "What? Joyce explained it to me once. I'm explaining it to you now. I wrote down everything she said." </p><p>  Max faceplants onto her pillow. "Never mind, El. I'll talk to you soon. I promise I'll work things out with Lucas, okay?" </p><p>  "Okay." </p><p>  "Bye!" </p><p>  "Bye, Max." The redhead hangs up, and sighs. El wasn't going to be as helpful since she wasn't around anymore, but maybe Max could find someone else to help her. After narrowing down a bunch of people, Max is torn between either asking Steve or Nancy. </p><p>  Steve would be a good person to ask, but since Max needs girl advice, she decides to ask Nancy. Max hasn't ever actually had a full-on conversation with Nancy before, but she figures that she should soon. And she's kind of stuck, anyway. </p><p>  Max leaves her house, skateboarding to the Byers'. She knocks on the door, and after a few seconds, to her relief, Nancy opens the door. "Hey, Max. Are you here for Mike?" </p><p>  "No, actually, I wanted to talk to you." Nancy raises an eyebrow. "I need advice. I...messed up. Bad." </p><p>  Nancy softens, and nods. "Okay. Let's go to my room." Nancy leads Max up to her room, and closes the door behind her. </p><p>  "Sit." Nancy pats her perfectly made bed, on the spot across from her. Max sits after a moment of hesitation. "So, what happened between you and Lucas?" </p><p>  "It's kind of a long story." Max's eyes water, and she easily spills everything out, while Nancy slowly nods and listens patiently. About five minutes later, she finishes. "So what should I do?" </p><p>  Nancy bites her lip. "Max, you two have been on and off for the past seven months. He comes running back to you every time. Isn't it obvious that he's clearly so in love with you he'd actually die for you? And meanwhile, you're just dumping him over the smallest things. Lucas always comes back, and then you push him away again. But it doesn't stop him. He always puts you first. And when he finally says he loves you, you break up with him and run off." She waits as the realization dawns on Max. "Why did you run off?" She asks gently. </p><p>  Max looks down. "I was scared. Everyone I've ever actually loved always leave me. My mom, who didn't give a shit until my stepdad got arrested. My stepbrother. I don't want to just give in to people, just to be a kicked puppy." </p><p>  "Lucas would literally take a bullet in the head for you, Max. And I think you would, for him, too. Besides, you're a teenager. Your heart's bound to get broken, so if you can learn early, you'll be good for life." Nancy pauses. "But you and Lucas have something. You guys have the same thing as my brother and El. The same thing I thought I had with Steve, until Jonathan came along. Hell, I don't even know if I have this thing with Jonathan. But all I know is, you guys are fourteen, in love, and I bet if you asked, the world would stop spinning for you guys." </p><p>  "Really?" </p><p>  "Yeah. Now, the important question. Do you love Lucas?" </p><p>  Max closes her eyes to think of all the times she's sure she almost said the three words out loud to him. The first time was three months ago, when they were having an ice cream fight, and he got it all over him and he looked absolutely adorable. The second time, was a week later, when he fell asleep on the couch next to her during moving night. She's positive she almost whispered the words to him. And so many more times after, she's forgotten. "Yes. I do." Then the tears come through like a flash flood. "Oh, my God." </p><p>  Nancy pulls Max into a hug. "Now you have to make things right, Max." Max nods, and smiles. </p><p>  "Thanks, Nancy." </p><p>  "No problem. Just...if you have any problems, come to me, okay? Don't talk to any of the nerds in the basement. They're no help." </p><p>  "Okay." Max leaves Nancy's room, giving her one more smile, before skateboarding back home to plan what she's going to say to Lucas tomorrow. </p><hr/><p>  It's nine in the morning when Lucas wakes up to a taped note on his window. </p><p>  <em>River</em><em>. Usual meeting place. Ten o'clock sharp. Don't be late. </em></p><p>
  <em>                                                                 -max</em>
</p><p>Lucas almost trips over nothing when he reads it. Max was meeting him at the river by the woods, the one they'd found a few months back on a "hike", after getting lost. He feels just a flutter of excitement. Maybe this time, instead of him running back to her, she'll be the one who fixes everything. He doesn't understand what he did wrong the previous night, but hopefully everything will be okay between them. </p><p>  At nine forty-five, Lucas is out the door, pedaling for his life to the convergence at the river, just a half mile shy of the Hopper cabin. He gets there in record time, five minutes early. Max is already there, however. She's skipping rocks, her hair blowing in the wind. God, Lucas loves her hair. He likes to play with it when she's sleeping, just because she never lets him touch it. He loves the way they run through his fingers, the way they just obscure her face when she falls asleep, and the way he gets to tuck it behind her ear when she's feeling sad. He hopes he'll get to do that again in the future, more than just once. </p><p>  Max looks up. "Hi." She's nervous. "Thanks for coming." </p><p>  <em>I'd do anything for you.</em> "No problem. Uh, why'd you want to meet me here?" Lucas steps closer to the riverbank, where the cold water is reaching up to Max's bare ankles, her bare feet on the river's stones. </p><p>  "I came to say that I'm sorry about yesterday. What you said just came so sudden, and I didn't mean to break us up or anything. I just...was scared. I didn't want to lose someone again just over the simplest three words." </p><p>  "Oh. If you want, we can take it slower. I know what I said was a little out of nowhere--"</p><p>  "It wasn't. I didn't know it at the time, but what you said? I wanted to say it first." </p><p>  Lucas blinks. "What?" </p><p>  Max turns to face him, tucking her hair behind her ear, her blue eyes sparkling in the sunlight. "I wanted to tell you that day three months ago when we had an ice cream fight. I wanted to tell you a week later when you were asleep on the Wheelers' couch, I wanted to tell you the day we went on a bike ride, the day you learned from Will how to draw, and drew me, the time you teamed up with the party to defend me from Neil. I wanted to tell you every single fucking time I pretended to be asleep and you silently played with my hair because you thought I was asleep, that <em>I love you, </em>Lucas Sinclair." She looks at him in the eye, her eyes watering. </p><p>  Lucas crosses over to her in two steps, holding her face in his hands. "And I love you, Maxine Mayfield." He kisses her softly, before she deepens it. </p><p>  "Don't call me Maxine," she mumbles. </p><p>  "Only whenever I feel like it." </p><p>  She pulls away first. "I'm never saying anything that sappy ever again, got that, Stalker?" </p><p>  Lucas pulls out his recorder in his pocket. "I recorded it all, MadMax." He plays what she just said, Max turning redder than a tomato. </p><p>  "What?!" </p><p>  "Nancy tipped me off." </p><p>  "<em>What?!</em> Oh god, I'm going to kill her." </p><p>  "Okay, whatever you say." </p><p>  Max sighs angrily, and splashes him. "I hate you." </p><p>  "You love me." </p><p>  "Whatever," Max mutters, silently smiling. </p>
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